Essentials

Fancy some sit-down comedy? How podcasting changed the rules of stand-up

“Podcasting is the best thing to happen to comedy since the invention of the record,” says Scott Aukerman, host of hugely popular US podcast Comedy Bang Bang. Of course, being a podcast host himself, he would say that.

But Aukerman’s got a point: over the last decade, little has done more to influence how audiences consume comedy, and what types of comedy they consume, than podcasting. Later this week, the inaugural London Podcast Festival takes place at Kings Place, with many shows already sold out. Comedy podcasting has become serious business.

Indeed, Aukerman’s Comedy Bang Bang – which has racked up nearly 450 episodes – has become so popular it’s spawned a TV show of the same name, it’s just completed a live tour of North America and Australia, and now the show’s heading across the Atlantic for its first UK dates.

Nowadays, there are so many interview podcasts, I think people turn to Comedy Bang Bang to get something a little more unique and off the beaten path. Who likes the beaten path?Scott Aukerman

Within the sub-genres of comedy podcasts, Comedy Bang Bang fits into the most popular and densely populated group: interview podcasts. Shows like Marc Maron’s WTF and Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist have gained massive followings and offer in-depth, revealing interviews with comedy talents talking about their work, career and personal life.

Comedy Bang Bang, on the other hand, doesn’t take comedy as seriously. “I’m the host and we interview real people but we also have comedians playing fake people,” explains Aukerman. At first, he was aiming for the show to be a weighty discussion about comedy with fellow comedians, “but my sense of humour kind of took over and we started doing silly stuff,” he says.

“That’s when the show became special to me. Nowadays, there are so many interview podcasts, I think people turn to Comedy Bang Bang to get something a little more unique and off the beaten path. Who likes the beaten path?”

Scott Aukerman is bringing ‘Comedy Bang Bang’ to the UK for the first time

So why has the “interview podcast” genre become so popular, so much so that Comedy Bang Bang is seen as an alternative? Why is a long-form chat with a comedian so appealing? “There’s something about the medium of podcasting that’s very intimate,” reckons Aukerman. “The audience feels like they’re getting to know the guest and almost feels as if they’re becoming part of their lives. I personally think there’s way too many of them [interview podcasts] – I mean, how much can you really learn about comedy?”

As such, on Comedy Bang Bang, the chat can go in any direction, and other guests – often comedians playing strange characters – can interject, pick apart answers or start running gags. “These days, you can tell when someone’s in the middle of a podcast promotional tour,” explains Aukerman.

“They’re doing the rounds. And, really, on every other show they’re going to end up telling the same stories. On Comedy Bang Bang the guests can throw away all of those stories and just literally do comedy, they can just come on and be silly. My style is kind of an anti-interview, so if we don’t discuss the thing they’re promoting all that much, all the better as far as I’m concerned.”

Guests that have embraced the show’s silliness include Ben Stiller and Amy Poehler, Simon Pegg and Sarah Silverman. Plus there are a large bunch of regular contributors who take on the character roles, including Jon Gabrus and Paul F Tompkins, both of whom will be part of the UK shows.

Aukerman says that it’s often the non-comedian guests who shine the most. “Jon Hamm has been on it since the beginning,” he explains, “which was right when Mad Men started. He’s one of the best guests, he’ll jump right into it. I love it when the people you wouldn’t expect to do so well really take to the format.”

After Richard Herring asked Stephen Fry simply, “What’s it like being Stephen Fry?”, he revealed, for the first time, details of his suicide attempt in 2012, which then made national headlines.

It’s not just Americans that have become successful podcasting interviewers. In the UK, Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast – whose guests have included Russell Brand, Tim Minchin and Steve Coogan – has a large, cult following, and regularly sells out its live shows. It plays the London Podcast Festival on 24 September and begins a run at Leicester Square Theatre on 3 October with Armando Iannucci as the guest.

Like Comedy Bang Bang, RHLSTP doesn’t aim to get too serious, but goes for sillier questions alongside exploring a guest’s life and work. “I think my odd technique of chucking in unexpected and seemingly silly questions often leads to unexpected revelations,” explains Herring.

Indeed, after he asked Stephen Fry simply, “What’s it like being Stephen Fry?”, the former QI host revealed, for the first time, details of his suicide attempt in 2012, which then made national headlines.

Herring says that part of the reason for his podcast’s success is that, in the current TV climate that favours “soundbites and rehearsed stories, you don’t get many long chats with people any more. So it’s good to see comedians talking informally and off script. With podcasting, I can get ideas down without having to waste time waiting for commissions and slots, and if the idea is three minutes or three hours you can put it out.”

People listen to The Comedian’s Comedian to really get deep into my guests’ heads. It’s a conversation about creativity.Stuart Goldsmith

London-based stand-up Stuart Goldsmith, who hosts The Comedian’s Comedian podcast (available on iTunes), approaches things differently. His popular interview series examines a comic’s creative and writing process, and doesn’t aim to be a laugh-a-minute. “People listen to mine to really get deep into my guests’ heads,” he says. “It’s a conversation about creativity, and everything branches out from that trunk. It frees me up to pursue angles that people haven’t already anecdotalised.”

Like Comedy Bang Bang, Goldsmith has recorded his podcast both with and without a live audience, and says there are pros and cons to both. Aukerman says there’s something special about the live shows, but approaches theatre gigs and studio records as two separate entities.

“The way we approach them and the way we perform them is different. They’re not two different things like, say, a rake and a bullfrog. But they are two different things like a rake and a lawnmower: both are going to clean up your yard, but the way they do it is slightly different.”

Aukerman says he’s looking forward to the UK shows, and especially hearing the British accent for five days straight (“it’s like a warm massage while I listen to you,” he tells me), and although the Comedy Bang Bang TV series is ending later this year after 110 episodes, there’s no chance of him wrapping up the podcast any time soon. “I’m still having a great time doing the podcast,” he says.

“I can’t see the end of that in the near future unless some strange event were to occur, like nuclear war. If a president were to be elected here in the US that were to take us to the brink of a nuclear war which would desolate the entire earth, maybe I would stop then. If anyone’s reading this over in the States, I don’t want that to necessarily influence the way that you vote in the election, but just know this: nuclear war would be bad for podcasting.”

Five Must-Sees at the London Podcast Festival

iTunes chart-topping podcast ‘My Dad Wrote A Porno’ is one of the highlights of the London Podcast Festival

The Beef and Dairy Podcast

Benjamin Partridge’s faux-industry podcast for “those involved or just interested in the production of beef animals and dairy herds” gets its first live outing.26 September, 6.30pm

Do the Right Thing

This friendly panel show podcast asks comedians to work out the right things to do in daft situations.24 September, 9.30pm

The Pod of Maximum Damage

A brand new podcast about “the greatest television show you will never ever see” from whirlwind character comic Adam Riches.24 September, 6.30pm

My Dad Wrote a Porno

The first time this wildly popular podcast – which has been number one in the iTunes charts for months – has been performed live. Expect a brand new chapter.21 September, 8pm, 22 & 23 September, 9.30pm

The Moth Mainstage in London

The internationally acclaimed storytelling podcast makes its fifth trip to the UK. It will sell out.Union Chapel, 26 September, 7.30pm

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